Although educated in medicine and law, Isaac Titsingh (1745-1812) decided to enter the VOC as a 'Junior Merchant'. From 1779 to 1785, he was Director of the VOC in Japan, where he was detached to the island of Deshima. Titsingh owned the first extensive Japanological collection in Europe, and wrote a tri-lingual series of studies on Japan, as such becoming the first Dutch Japanologist. The two volumes contain 300 of his letters in the original Dutch language; the Preface and Introduction are in English.